Reading this thread I am reminded of President Eisenhower's Cross of Iron speech of 1953. Almost seventy years have passed and not much has changed.
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speech ... ofiron.htm
To follow on I am also reminded of his farewell address especially this quote.:
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhowe ... ll_address
Sixty plus years and we still haven't heeded his call.
Last week, the Department of Defense revealed that it had failed its fifth consecutive audit.
“I would not say that we flunked,” said DoD Comptroller Mike McCord, although his office did note that the Pentagon only managed to account for 39 percent of its $3.5 trillion in assets. “The process is important for us to do, and it is making us get better. It is not making us get better as fast as we want.”
The news came as no surprise to Pentagon watchers. After all, the U.S. military has the distinction of being the only U.S. government agency to have never passed a comprehensive audit.
But what did raise some eyebrows was the fact that DoD made almost no progress in this year’s bookkeeping: Of the 27 areas investigated, only seven earned a clean bill of financial health, which McCord described as “basically the same picture as last year.”
Given this accounting disaster, it should come as no surprise that the Pentagon has a habit of bad financial math. This is especially true when it comes to estimating the cost of weapons programs.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/ ... -in-order/
Back in the early 1960s there was an anti-war song with the lyrics, "Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?. ". We could rename it for the DoD with "Where have all the monies gone long time passing?".
I'm all for a strong military, I grew up in the military as a SAC Brat. But I also remember my dad, a career warrant officer in the USAF, complaining about the waste of funds and lack of support equipment, as things were shifted by people trying to show how much they controlled, to get a promotion. The DoD and its contractors are probably the most wasteful part of the Federal government. Reminds me of the quote “A million here and a million there and pretty soon we are talking about real money.” - U. S. Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen.